Among Friends

A group of school friends (their friend, Lily, is noticeably absent…for a reason) are gathered together (well, I use the word, friends, loosely) for a specific purpose, and it isn’t what they think…far from an amicable party to celebrate their co-existence, why they are in the same house together will soon be revealed. This revelation will not be to their liking. Far from it.
**½

 had read about a film Danielle Harris had directed. I was immensely curious, wondering just what this beauty had creatively to show us horror fans who have followed her career since Halloween 4. The film plays out like the classic “revenge for a tragic event from the past” in the vein of I Know What You Did Last Summer, in that a select bunch are responsible for something traumatic that happened to an innocent (that or their complicit participation in other acts that would cause great agony if made known). What ultimately happens to them is up for debate but what that will be we can only guess. The results of the gathering is for those responsible to confront, much to their discomfort, their part in it all.

When they arrive to the house, no one is there, but instructions await the group. It is for a game. Who is the killer? Clues are throughout the house for the principles to discover. The game has the group coming to the table with all the clues brought forth, but the participants will be in for a surprise because nothing is as it seems. The party is at Bernadette’s house and she seems to be hiding something (there’s this wicked glimmer and knowing plan in place soon to be unveiled). Drugged, losing feeling in their extremities, and soon to be duct-taped into position in chairs around a table, the gang are in for a night of terror as Bernadette will provoke a reaction from them all as she forces them to examine their own faults and dishonesty. Being “outed” for your past sins while taped to a chair and forced to endure suffering (psychological, physical, and otherwise),  while those around you must watch is all part of the “human torture” aspect (no, I’m not fucking calling this torture porn) that has become par for the course in the likes of Saw and The Final.

Alyssa Lobit is the major star of the cast of unfamiliar faces as the psychotic Bernadette, playfully basking in the misery of those she punishes. She chops off a finger after being told to stop the showing the recording of a secret masturbation to lesbian lovemaking (the character of Jules (Brianne Davis) is a lesbian “actress” unknowingly performing while fellow friend, Marcus (Christopher Backus) is jerking off across the room). Sara (Kamala Jones) gets scalped and a nail driven through her hand. Marcus takes those chopped fingers. Blane has an eyebrow sliced off. We see that Melanie (Jennifer Blanc) isn’t some do-gooder, but in fact gets it from both Blane and almost from dopehead Adam (AJ Bowen) while wasted. Oh, but Melanie and Blane wasn’t a one-time thing. That was when Blane was with Sara, too. That’s the way the film goes. This turns into Jerry Springer. I get what director Harris is going for. Part of the awesome Hugh Laurie show, House, is “everybody lies.” That is a mantra that proves true time and again. Does proving that these people sitting around this table are cretins justify Bernadette tormenting them and harming them cruelly? Vigilantism is nothing new in film. Of all the misbehavior already mentioned, this pales in comparison to the real genesis of what purposed the “game”. Adam’s connection to the supposedly dead Lily (the victim of a botched abortion, Bernadette says) is at the forefront of all this.

Boy does the film go off the tracks into loonyland when Jules, having supplied herself with shrooms before and during the party prior to the torture table game, hallucinates. During the hallucination, Jules envisions a “casting party” (including Michael Biehn and Danielle Harris in her Halloween clown costume!!!) with director Xavier Gens (of all people) directing the table scene with different people in the roles of the party Jules is amongst. This is just wild. Jules goes in and out of this state and Harris heightens the hallucination by having voices talking over each other and the actors screaming out and at one another. Kane Hodder even has a special appearance as a foul-mouthed limo driver making the mistake of crossing paths with Bernadette (even not knowing her to be a maniac, it just wasn’t his night). It is a nice cameo considering Harris and Hodder worked together on Hatchet II.

While Bernadette wasn’t exactly justified in her homicidal antics, Lily (Dana Daurey) gets to say her piece and address these people who aren’t friends but guilty in mishandling the truth of a rape, doing nothing about it, and ultimately brushing it off when it appears they are rescued from harm. These people blow it when they have a chance to admit their wrongdoing, but fuck it up instead.

When I watch a film like this, I kind of develop apathy because I don’t feel a damned thing for those enduring the suffering. These are people that task our ability to summon the least bit of sympathy for what they are going through. I don’t want to feel a desire to see them punished or take the abuse with a vicarious thrill, but oftentimes the characters are so full of themselves, act in ways that are selfish and heelish, behaving without a sense of honor at all for those who might be pained by their actions.  And even when faced with the truth of how mean-spirited and heartless their behavior might have been, these people fail to truly take into account the effects of their actions. Lily is about to set them free, and they accost her on why she held the rape to herself instead of telling them. Lily sees them in this moment, still unchanged and concerned only for themselves. Oh, to sic Bernadette on their asses. Lily might just have that option even after it seems she has rendered Bernadette “subdued”.

There rarely is a balance. To see characters flawed but still feel for them is rare in these types of films. To understand that we all make mistakes but have a conscience and feeling for others. By film’s end, the characters are just as self-absorbed and willing to forget what has been shed to light so they can get out of the house, wounds and blood and missing parts, off to continue their rotten existences. It is just as well that Bernie has some fun with them.

But in regards to Harris, I hope she gets a chance to direct again, but this time with the ability to proceed beyond one building and a stage-like set up. The budget and cast may not be exceeding in the quality often provided to a Rob Zombie or those who directed Halloween sequels, but I would enjoy seeing Harris being able to function with more room to take a story and characters, outside such a confined space. She still conducts quite a horror show. I still felt like she ran out of budget and story before a satisfying conclusion could truly send her movie off with a real bang, but she acquits Among Friends with plenty of darkness, winking at us that those unfortunate enough to appear in her film are bequeathed to their just desserts and Harris has a sweet tooth.